Review of Wells Fargo

One fictional Ramsay MacKay(Joel McCrea) begins with a local mail and package delivery service in upstate NY. Soon, he joins WF, which is about to expand it's stagecoach services west to St. Louis. Of course, it would soon initiate stage service between St. Louis and San Francisco, which MacKay was involved in. The film deals almost exclusively with the role of WF in transportation and mail, ignoring it's importance to banking, especially in CA. In fact, it was the major bank company in early CA. The film dramatizes the occasional attack of stagecoaches by Native Americans, who also burned down a station, killing all the people. Historically, this happened at least once, during the Paiute War of 1860, at Williams Station, NV. Also, an incident is dramatized in which a Confederate cavalry unit held up a stage, confiscating a large amount of gold, so that it wouldn't contribute to the Union war effort. I was unable to find information confirming that this actually happened. Actually, the great majority of gold and silver from CA-NV was transported by ship to the East. On the other hand, gold from Colorado and Montana probably was often sent south or east on stages. Of course, it wasn't long before railroads began to compete with stages for freight, mail and passengers. However, stages would continue for some years to service feeder routes to the railroads. .....Getting back to the story, Bob Burns makes his frequent appearance known by his distinctive voice and gab. He often serves to do odd jobs for MacKay, but doesn't play his bazooka, as he sometimes did in films. Near the end, he gives a rousing speech at a dinner about the accomplishments of WF....Francis Dee, soon to become Mrs. McCrea off the set, played MacKay's love interest, as Justine. He meets her in NY state, and later delivers a package to her home in St. Louis. They marry, but have disagreements about his time spent on the road, and working for a company that exclusively served the Union(her family being from the South). Eventually, they split, although not divorced. MacKay happens to arrive at Justine's house the day before the birthday for their 17y.o. daughter, who invites him to her party. He declines, saying he must leave immediately. However, he does show up, and suggests to Justine that they get back together......MacKay opens a WF office in San Francisco, and delivers mail out in the gold fields, returning with gold to keep in his safe for the miners.....A little bit is mentioned about competition in CA , and the eventual merger with Wells Fargo of several of their big competitors.....Paramount sank $1.5 million into this film, which was a tidy sum in those days. Don't know how it fared at the box office. See it on YouTube.